Baby in New York hit-and-run dies; suspect is named

Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn expresses sorrow for the boy, who initially survived the crash that killed his parents.

Suspect Julio Acevedo, in an undated photo, was arrested in February on… (New York Police Department )

NEW YORK — Police identified a suspect in the hit-and-run deaths of a young married couple Monday, hours after their premature baby boy also died.

Authorities were seeking Julio Acevedo, 44, believed to be the driver of a BMW that hit a cab carrying Nathan and Raizy Glauber, both 21.

The Glaubers were rushing to a hospital early Sunday because Raizy wasn't feeling well. Her husband had called the cab because, like many New Yorkers, the family didn't own a car. The accident occurred in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Nathan was taken to Beth Israel Medical Center and Raizy to Bellevue Hospital Center, both in Manhattan. Both were pronounced dead on arrival from blunt-force trauma.

The baby was delivered by emergency caesarean section and was initially listed in critical but stable condition. Police said they believed Raizy was about seven months pregnant.

The infant's cause of death was premature birth from injuries suffered by his mother, police said.

The tragedy has roiled the Glaubers' tight-knit Satmar Orthodox Jewish community in Williamsburg and in the suburban Rockland County, N.Y., area. Rewards have been offered, and community leaders have demanded that police charge the driver of the BMW with three homicides.

Paul Browne, deputy commissioner of the New York Police Department, said Acevedo was arrested in February on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Acevedo had served time in prison for manslaughter in the 1990s, the Associated Press reported.

Police initially said there was a passenger in the BMW who fled along with the driver. On Monday, however, they said the driver was alone, adding that the BMW had been traveling faster than 60 mph.

Police said the cab was going west when it was struck on the driver's side by the BMW, which had been going north. The cab was at a stop sign, but it was unclear whether it had stopped, police said.

The cab driver was not seriously hurt, but the city's Taxi and Limousine Commission said his application to use the car as a livery cab had not been approved.

The Glaubers were married about a year ago and lived in Williamsburg, where Raizy grew up in a prominent Orthodox Jewish rabbinical family. Nathan was raised in the Rockland County community of Monsey and was studying to be a rabbi. His family had founded a line of clothing for Orthodox Jews. Both of them were buried Sunday.

Their baby boy was buried Monday near his parents, according to Isaac Abraham, a spokesman for the community.

"The mood in the neighborhood is very heavy," Oscar Sabel told the Associated Press. "We all hoped the baby would survive."

Abraham said in a statement: "We in the community are demanding that the prosecutor charge the driver of the BMW that caused the death of this couple and infant. This coward left the scene of the accident not even bothering to check on the people of the other car."